


Party Favours

by AlissaShawWrites



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Flash Thompson Redemption, Good Peter, House Party, M/M, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Secret Identity, Secret Identity Fail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 09:55:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18519052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlissaShawWrites/pseuds/AlissaShawWrites
Summary: Flash Thompson hosts the final house party he would ever have as a high school student before moving up to the big leagues of university. He invites everyone including nerdy little Peter Parker and his much cooler friend; Spiderman. He gets a lot more than he bargains for.





	Party Favours

Flash Thompson knew how to throw a killer party. His father was out of town a lot; either on business or vacations that Flash was not invited to, giving him lots of time to attend and throw parties. He never cared much seeing as a weekend with friends always topped uncomfortable silences with his father, followed by long hours of not doing anything besides watching him work.

He was really excited this time seeing as it was going to be his last party before he moved away to go to college. The final shining moment before he had to; at the very least, be somewhat independent. Not to mention a celebration of graduating with all of his friends. 

That’s why that bright; so close to summer vacation, Friday morning, he had gone around the school hallways inviting every single person he came face to face with. He playfully invited the teachers who he knew wouldn’t rat him out to the cops, the freshmen, and every member of the decathlon team. And yes; that did mean that stupid twink, Peter Parker.

He almost didn’t. He wasn’t sure he really wanted that buzzkill at his biggest, loudest, absurdly raging party he ever held. Peter hadn’t even been enough of a ‘rule breaker’ to go swimming at a hotel they were paying to stay at in Washington. Yet he still disappeared the next day leaving the team stranded. But then he saw Peter. He looked like he was about to fall face first into his locker from exhaustion. 

“Yo, Parker. Long night? Can’t imagine you’d be up all night with a girl so; let me guess, your right hand and spying on Black Widow right? Perks of being a Stark Intern?” 

“That's just creepy, Flash.” He sounded worse than he appeared. Something in his voice was hoarse and raspy; not even close to a regular tired. “Please leave me alone. I’m just trying to pass my exams.” 

“Well then save your energy and shut up. I’m having a kick-ass party tonight and I want you to be there. Everyone's coming so you better show.”

“No thanks.”

“Wasn’t asking. It’s going to be sweet and it’s the last time to actually have some fun before we have to be adults. Let loose.”

Before Peter could respond, the school news buzzed to life on the monitors with the two newest hosts learning the ropes before the regulars graduated. “Good morning Midtown,” the girl smiled awkwardly at the camera. “Today is another exciting day in our countdown to summer. We’d like to start out by showing some epic footage caught by one of Midtown's own seniors. Late last night, Spidey was seen scaling a thirty-floor building to surprise attack a group of thugs on the roof. Show the footage.”

It took a few too long seconds and some very awkward stares at the crew just out of sight before the shaky cellphone footage from a few floors above was playing on screen. Peter’s full attention was on it right from the second Spidermans name was mentioned. Flash was intrigued as well. Anytime his favourite hero was on screen, he couldn't look away. 

Spiderman took out a few of the bigger guys in the group before one of the smaller, more nimble men took a lucky swing at the hero. He landed a firm blow to the vigilante's chest that with the momentum, carried up to his neck and jaw. 

Peter flinched as he watched and placed a hand on his own neck. Flash nudged his shoulder somewhat playfully, “that one hurt I bet. If he's not too injured you should bring your pal, Spidey. You never did bring him to Liz’s party. But I guess that’s because he was fighting Liz’s dad. Weird to go to an enemy's, daughters house party.”

“Right,” Peter sighed, suddenly turning back to his locker. “He probably can’t but maybe. I don’t know. I’ll ask but don’t get your hopes up.” He slammed the locker door closed with a yawn and walked away, towards his class.

Flash rolled his eyes; knowing that he most likely would not see Peter that night. 

He was wrong. Peter arrived as he was still setting up for the party; a whole hour before he expected guests to start arriving. “Why are you here so early?”

He shrugged. “You never told me a time so I thought I’d just show up. I don’t know. My aunt isn’t home and she usually knows these things.”

Flash couldn’t help but laugh. “Your aunt is cooler than you.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Not knowing what to do, he moved to let Peter in. “I’m still setting up so do whatever.”

“You’re going to just leave me to wander around your house? That’s not safe.”

Flash raised his eyebrow. “Why, you planning to kill me or something, Parker?”

“You never know. You can never guess what people are capable of.” 

There was something really unsettling about that answer and the way he said it with such certainty and forcefulness. Flash was suddenly very uncomfortable. “Okay then, dickwad. You're coming with me but staying at least three feet back. That was fucking weird.” 

Peter shrugged, “it’s just what happens after a couple of years with the Avengers. You start looking over your shoulder more.” 

They slowly started climbing the stairs to the next floor with Peter walking normally with his head down while Flash was walking backwards, looking down at his classmate. “Why? What’s happened to you? I never heard anything about you being in a shootout or something.”

“A few too many actually. I- well, we cover it up really well. Don’t want my name on the T.V. you know. Bad for publicity. I also don’t really like the idea of people at school knowing how often I’ve almost died. It’s not fun.”

Flash; not paying attention to his actions and instead focusing on the story, anticipated a step that wasn't actually there, sending his foot falling through the air. He fell to the floor with a thunk and a gasp of surprise more than anything. “What the fuck, you’ve almost died?!” 

Peter had reflexively reached out to help Flash as he fell; almost stumbling on top of him. He caught himself on the railing easily with adrenaline shining in his eyes. “What? Are you okay?”

“Yeah- Parker what the actual, absolute fuck!”

“It’s just somethings that have happened, okay? It’s nothing.”

“Like hell, it’s not! Tell me about it!”

“I’d rather not.”

“I’d rather you did.”

“Flash, give it a rest okay? I’m tired, I’m uncomfortable, my best friend is not here, and worst of all, I still have hours here when people will be drinking underage. It’s not exactly my idea of fun.” 

“Then why come?” Flash asked, pulling himself back to his feet. 

“I don't know. Thought it’d be good for me. I never really do anything social and, like you said, it’s my last chance since I’m not going to prom.” 

“Parker,” he sighed aggressively. “You are going to prom.” 

“Why do you even care?” 

“Because you're so goddamn boring. You just study and never do anything fun and you're probably going to be the same in college and work too. Live a little. And live while it's still socially acceptable! Do you know what happens when teens do something stupid like drinking or listening to loud music or dye their hair or get tattoos? ‘That's just how kids are.’ You know what happens when adults do it? They are ‘irresponsible,’ and, ‘a danger to society,’ or ‘having a midlife crisis.’ It's like you can't have fun as an adult at all.” 

“But why is my way of having fun bad? I’m happy having a night in with my friends. My life is chaotic as it is so I just want to relax at home with a movie or build a LEGO set. Especially with college coming so soon. Well, university actually.”

“Oh yeah?” Flash said, finally continuing his way up the stairs towards the bedrooms. 

“Yeah, ESU. Mr. Stark wanted me to go to MIT but it was just too far and, honestly, I’d feel a little out of my league.”

“I’m going to ESU too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” He started closing and locking the various rooms on the top floor.

Peter tilted his head in very obvious confusion. “What are you doing? Is this something all party hosts do?”

“Nah,” Flash shrugged. “But it’s easier for me if I do it. No one can get in the bedrooms to fuck or steal my stuff. Plus I don’t really want people snooping in my shit.”

The smile Peter had was almost evil in nature and reminded him too much of MJ when she was about to verbally hand him his ass. “What are you hiding, Flash? You a supervillain in disguise? Are you secretly Electro?” 

“I wish! But then I wouldn’t be a villain. I would be helping Spiderman. He’s so cool and I’d love to work with him.”

Peter laughed until the laugh abruptly turned into a yawn and a quick stretch lead to a few cracking sounds. He made a satisfied sound and lifted his hands above his head in another attempt at cracking a painful joint. Though Flash hadn’t intended too; his eyes shot down to the exposed skin peeking out from the longsleeved shirt Peter was wearing. 

He wished he had a moment longer to look down at the surprisingly toned abdomen as he wasn't sure whether he had seen it correctly. Did nerdy and recluse little Peter Parker have scars? And lots of them? Maybe there was some truth to his wild claims of violence with the Avengers. There’s no way heroes would hurt an innocent intern for no reason right?

He didn’t want to question it, especially since he wasn’t sure if he had even seen it correctly. “Since you're already here, will you go watch the door?” he asked to change the subject. “Usually a group will show up around now and I still have some crap to put together.”

“Sure,” Peter nodded and made his way back down the stairs without a second thought. 

Once the party got started, he was sure to move on from all of the awful thoughts he had about Peters possible injuries. It didn’t work. Right from the second the first group arrived, to the moment the last drunk sauntered out, he thought about it. He tried everything he could to rationalize what he thought he saw. Whenever he saw Peter walk past, he would try to catch a glimpse of what hid under the ridiculously fancy buttondown. 

That was; until he stopped seeing him. He must have gone home a couple of hours after the party really got going. Flash didn’t blame him, he didn't actually appear to be having fun at all; and worse, he was sure he had almost passed out from exhaustion once or twice. All he did all night was yawn. It was for the best.

Flash was beginning to understand where Peter was coming from. All he wanted was to faceplant on his bed and not wake up until school started on Monday. He didn’t need to study for anything anyway. 

He slowly made his way up the stairs, promising himself that he would clean up the mess tomorrow. He unlocked the bathroom and his own bedroom and made his way inside where he was stopped dead in his tracks. On his bed; fast asleep, was Spiderman. At least that’s what it looked like. The mask was pulled down over his face but his suit was baggy and only half pulled on. 

It was very clearly Spiderman as he looked him up and down. The scars matched up to known fights that Spiderman had lost or come close to losing; not that Flash knew every fight Spiderman had been in at all, not even the tiniest bit. The easiest to identify, however; the thing that really gave it away was the bruise on his chest from his fight the night before. 

Flash was frozen. What was he supposed to do? His favourite superhero was asleep on his bed for some unknown reason. How was he even here? The window was open; okay that's one question easily answered.

He stood for a few minutes just looking down at the curled up figure, breathing softly into his pillow. 

“Um, Spiderman? Sir?”

The hero started stirring at his name and the eye shutters slowly opened. “Flash?” a familiar voice cracked from behind the mask. 

Flash felt his heart almost stop when the realization of who was behind that mask started to piece together in his mind. Things and coincidences he hadn't paid a second glance or spare thought to, became so obvious. “Parker?”

“Yeah? What happened? Is something wrong?” He jumped to his feet, looking around for danger or any clue into what was happening. Instead, he was face to face with off-brand Spiderman posters and news clippings of various takedowns. 

That’s when something seemed to click in his mind as well, just as the loose fabric slipped from his shoulders, falling to the floor, exposing his Spiderman briefs and mostly naked body. 

“Oh fuck,” was all he could whisper as he struggled to dress himself as fast as he could. He lowered his voice in an attempt to mask it, “I am sorry citizen. I am not sure what happened but your good pal, Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman will fix it. I have to go.”

“You’re… you’re Spiderman? Is that even possible?”

“I don’t know who Spider- Peter. I don't know a Peter. Oh, um, except for Peter Parker. I know him. Stark intern. Great guy. Invited me here to meet his friends.” 

“Parker cut the crap and tell me what’s actually going on because I am having a heart attack! You’re Spiderman? How? For how long? Oh my God, that’s why you got the Stark Internship! And why you always disappear! And how Spiderman was in DC when we were, and how he just happened to be in Europe too! How did you get Spider-powers?”

Knowing his cover was completely blown, he slowly pulled off his mask. Once it was off, it really resonated with the two students. To Peter, he had been reckless and got himself caught. To Flash, he was mesmerized by not only knowing the secret identity of his favourite superhero but also terrified that it was someone he knew, someone he picked fights with, someone who probably hated him.

“Listen Flash,” Peter started, almost sounding like he was going to cry. “You can’t tell anyone. Please, you can’t. It’s too dangerous and you were never supposed to find out!”

“W-Why are you even here dressed like that?”

“You wanted Spiderman to show up at your party and I didn’t go to Liz’s and I thought it was my last chance to prove I knew him so when I saw you locking the bedrooms I thought it would be a great place to change. I didn’t count on your bed being so comfortable! And my mask has a special noise cancellation feature so my senses don’t get overstimulated so it blocked out the music… I just wanted a quick nap. I was so tired.”

“I-I don’t know what to say.” Flash suddenly couldn’t look Peter in the eyes. “What do we do now? I know who you are. I won't tell anyone.”

“You promise? It’s really important that you don't. It's so dangerous. Not only for me and my aunt but also you and everyone at school. Villians will do anything to get to me. Anyone associated with me could get hurt.”

“I know this is serious, Parker; but honestly that is the coolest thing I’ve ever been told. I feel like I'm in a secret underground spider-related organization.”

“I guess you are.”

“Who else knows?” 

“The Avengers, my aunt, Ned, MJ, and, well, Liz’s dad. I’m pretty lucky he’s not completely evil or else everyone would know who I am and I doubt I would’ve lived this long. I think that’s it though.” 

“Did you tell them all right away?” 

“No. Tony Stark had to track me down to figure it out and the Avengers found out a while after they fought in the airport. May and Ned found out by accident and MJ and Liz’s dad figured it out on their own.” 

“I don't know how I didn't figure it out myself, but I'm glad I know now. Even if it's not exactly how you wanted me to find out, not that you really wanted me to find out at all, but I want you to know that I really do appreciate it. 

“I'm really sorry Parker, for all the things I've done. I'm getting closer to college and adulthood and I'm starting to realize what I’ve done to you and how it must have felt. I'm an asshole, I know. It’s okay if you hate me, I don't blame you.”

“I don't hate you, Flash. I never did. I just don't enjoy hanging around you when all you do is make fun of me. It hurts, you know. Sometimes I can't get what you say out of my head. But at the same time, it's pretty uplifting to hear what you say about Spiderman. 

“It seems like you're the only person who really cares about Spiderman. Everyone else likes the Avengers and talks about them constantly but I basically only got that week after I saved you guys in the Washington Monument. Which, to be fair, was kind of my fault. But after that, no one talked about me. I know it sounds selfish; I just sometimes feel like nothing I do matters to people.”

“That’s fucking ridiculous, Parker,” Flash told him firmly. “Everyone loves Spiderman. He- you, I guess, are the coolest fucking thing. Yeah so one guy built a metal suit and another one got injected with some super-serum he had nothing to really do with. You have all these cool powers and a way better attitude to match! No one has forgotten what you did for us and the school. Even Liz.”

“There’s no way. She must hate me.”

“I talk to her all the time, dumbass. She still loves Spiderman and she’s always saying that; even though she sometimes gets mad at what he did, she’s also thankful he did it. He saved her dad. You saved her dad. She said you even pulled him out of a fire and tried to save him even after he almost killed you. That’s- well, that's just fucking amazing.”

“How?” 

“How is it not? Everyone else would’ve just let him get himself killed. They would have walked away knowing that his screams of agony and hatred would haunt them forever but they wouldn’t try to save him! I know I wouldn’t have! But you-you see the good in everyone. You see the humanity in their eyes even when they’re doing horrible things. You would risk your life for anyone. Y-You’re so brave, Parker.”

Peter couldn't stop the flush of bright pink that began to paint his cheeks. “I’m no-”

“Yes, you are! Don’t you dare! You’re like the only real hero out there! The only one who’s doing it to protect the little guys. No ulterior motives; just wanting to help. I respect that.”

“Thank you, Flash. That really means a lot.”

A single tear fell from his eye before he could stop it. Slowly, Flash raised his hand to delicately wipe it away and Peter let him. “I’m still sorry, Parker. I’ll try to be better in the future.”

He fumbled with the mask between his fingertips and avoided the already awkward stare he was receiving. “Thank you, Flash. You know, if we’re going to be going to the same university, we could spend time together. At least we already know someone there.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I’d like that.”

“Great. Well, I should get home. I promised my aunt I would spend the whole weekend studying for finals but I doubt I’ll even get a page done without getting dragged away to official Spidey business.”

“Sick. Well get out of here you spider-bastard! You have New York to defend.”

He pulled the mask back on as he climbed into the open window frame; but not before he gave Flash a wide smile and a wink. “It was good getting to know the real you. Shoot me a text sometime.”

He disappeared into the darkness of the night and Flash watched from his room until he could no longer see the silhouette past the buildings. “Yeah,” he mumbled to no one. “You too, Peter. You too.”


End file.
